03122019 - Ganduje sends bill for 4 new Kano emirates afresh

18 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2019
THIS year’s World AIDS Day was
marked on Sunday, December 1, 2019
with the theme: “Communities Make
The Difference”.
It focused attention on the roles that
communities have played and will
continue to play in ensuring that this
deadly disease is contained.
It is estimated that about 37.9 million
However, the current picture of things
people are infected by the Human
in Nigeria is something to cheer about.
Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired
The National Action for the Control of
Immune Deficiency Syndrome, HIV/
HIV/AIDS, NACA, has disclosed that
AIDS, with about 770,000 AIDS deaths
prevalence has dropped from 2.8 per
recorded in 2018.
cent in previous years to 1.4 per cent,
Two-thirds of the cases were
representing roughly 1.9 million
documented in Africa and the Middle
people.
East, mostly because of lack of adequate
According to Mrs. Akudo Ikpeazu, a
education and access to care.
Director of NACA in a television
Due to the subsisting stigma attached
programme, about 800,000 Nigerians
to this scourge in these parts of the
are still outside the treatment basket,
world, many people are still afraid to
and this is where the bulk of the AIDS
submit themselves to HIV/AIDS tests.
fatalities usually comes from.
The tragedy of this is that most people
It would appear that the most
only get to know their status when they
daunting challenge to the arrest of the
fall sick and can no longer be helped.
spread of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria is
HIV/AIDS is still a serious danger
getting people to voluntarily go for
tests. Volition is emphasised, since it is
a universally-approved practice never
to force anyone to get tested.
Once a case is established after a test,
NACA assures that it has established a
grassroots-based mechanism for
plugging those who need treatment into
immediate care, which is free and
generally available.
Unfortunately, despite strenuous
efforts by researches all over the world,
the cure or vaccine for HIV/AIDS has
not been found.
However, early detection and use of
approved anti-retroviral drugs have
succeeded in sustaining so many
infected persons that almost everybody
has come to the realisation that HIV
infection is no longer a “death
sentence”.
This is why this year’s theme is so
central and relevant. The greatest
weapons against the spread of HIV/
AIDS are in awareness, testing and
getting on the anti-retroviral
medication.
There is a need for the community to
mobilise its organs, such as the
religious leaders, traditional rulers, the
schools, media and advocacy groups
to put more effort in getting people to
embrace voluntary testing.
One way of ensuring success is to do
away with the stigma associated with
being infected.
Once the community closes ranks
against this scourge, it can be contained
even before a cure or vaccine is
perfected.
AT present the Nigeria Customs
Service is run by the comptrollergeneral
who oversees the work of six
deputy comptroller generals in the
following departments: Corporate
Support Services; Tariff and Trade;
Enforcement, Investigation, and
Inspection; Modernization, Research
and Economic Relations; Excise,
Industrial Incentives and Free Trade
Zone; and Human Resource
Development.
The circular is talking about the sale
of petroleum products along the border.
The circular is not talking about the
closure of border, an issue that must
have been discussed at the Federal
Executive Council presided over by the
President and I am sure the President
must have seen the merits and demerits
on the need to close our borders.
Even if the President gave such a
directive to Colonel Hameed Alli, to
execute, we all know how he is extremely
close to the President for he is among
the untouchables around now, the
circular did not say so and there is
nothing negative in the circular saying
so. I am aware that the untouchables in
Nigeria of today get away with anything
and nothing will happen to them.
A pronouncement in the circular that
Colonel Hameed Alli was carrying out
the directive of the President could have
given the circular more weight. We are
discussing about the powers of the
Comptroller-General of the Nigeria
Customs.
OPINION
Customs boss overflexing
his muscles (2)
The sale of petroleum products is still
under the NNPC and no law has taken
that responsibility from the NNPC.
According to the Nigerian constitution,
all minerals, gas, and oil the country
possesses are legally the property of the
Nigerian federal government. The
The sale of petroleum
products is still under the
NNPC and no law has taken
that responsibility from the
NNPC
Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation, NNPC, is the oil
corporation through which the Federal
Government of Nigeria regulates and
participates in the country’s petroleum
industry.
The Nigeria Customs Service was
formerly under the Ministry of Finance
before 1985. General
Ibrahim Babangida,
GCFR, placed it
directly under the
Ministry of Internal
Affairs and that lasted
from 1985 till 1992. He
later transferred the
Customs back to the
Ministry of Finance in
1992 and that
arrangement is still on
till date.
I have read and
reread the decrees of
the Nigeria Customs Service especially
the post of the comptroller general, I
never came across in the decrees where
the comptroller general of Customs will
execute the directive in that circular.
I am equally not undermining the
success of Colonel Hameed Alli. Since
he became the comptroller-general of
Customs, for example, the Nigeria
Customs Service, NCS, has generated
about N1.002 trillion from January to
September. The service recorded the
highest revenue of N123.6 billion in July,
followed by N118.6 billion in May.
Let’s take a look at the legal framework
of the Nigeria Customs Service. The
Customs and Excise Management Act,
CEMA, Cap 45, Law of the Federation
of Nigeria, 2004 vests legal authority in
the Nigeria Customs Service to act on
behalf of the Federal Government of
Nigeria in all Customs matters. This is
supported by various supplementary
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legislations including: Customs and
Excise (Special Panel and other
Provisions) Cap 45, Laws of the
Federation of Nigeria, 2004; Customs
Duties (Dumped and Subsidized Goods)
Act Cap 87 Laws of the Federation of
Nigeria; Nigeria Pre-shipment
Inspection Decree No. 36 of November,
1979 further amended by Decree No. 11
of April 19, 1996; Decree No. 45 of June
1, 1992 as amended by Decree No, 77 of
August 29, 1993; Customs and Excise
Management (Amendment) Act No. 20
of 2003; Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.
The law relating to Customs agents is
contained in the Customs and Excise
Management Act, CEMA, Cap 45, Laws
of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and
the Customs and Excise Agents
(Licensing) Regulations 1968 (Legal
Notice 95/1968 as amended). Nowhere
did I come across the power of the
comptroller-general to execute the
November 6 circular.
By virtue of delegated authority, the
comptroller-general is authorized to
issue guidelines and prescribe internal
instructions to Customs personnel in
accordance with the governments’ rules
and regulations as they affect the
statutory functions of the Customs
Service.
Executive usurpation of powers
because one is close to the President is
very dangerous. An enlightened and
civilized society is guided by rules and
regulations.
To be concluded